 Well, so Pakistan has a very brief, but very interesting story of negotiation with the Taliban and making deals, what we call the peace deal with the Taliban. The story started after 9-11 when hundreds, if not thousands of Al Qaeda-linked militants, they slept into the Pakistan tribal region and they took refuge in the Fata region more specifically in the south Waziristan belt. Pakistan started military operations there in 2003 and that was the first time when Pakistan army went into the tribal region after the creation of Pakistan in 1947. They launched military operations there against what they called the foreign militants there, which were supported by the local Taliban militants. And that time there was one local Waziri Taliban commander. He was from the Wazir tribe in south Waziristan region. His name was Naik Muhammad Wazir. He actually that time led the insurgency and he started fighting with the Pakistani forces there. So that's how the story started there. I will briefly go to the peace deal which the Pakistani government made in the Fata region and just briefly, which were made recently in Sawat, which is not part of the Fata, which is part of the NWAP. So this is the first deal which was signed and its name was Shaqai peace deal. It was in April 2004. It was signed amid big fun fair in a sprawling ground of Shaqai, some 20 miles from Wana, which is the headquarter of south Waziristan. Thousands of tribesmen attended the ceremony. That time I was a journalist in Peshawar. I myself was there and it was between the Pakistan army and local Taliban commander Naik Muhammad Wazir who is considered as father of the Pakistani Taliban. Naik Muhammad who was 28 years old that time and he was a trained fighter who fought during the Afghan jihad. He was there before 9-11 and he told journalist after the peace deal that he actually fought at Bagram and those places. So this is Naik Muhammad Wazir. When Pakistan army launched its military operation, the first one was done at Kalusha. Kalusha was a town in south Waziristan on the border with Afghanistan. After that, the first operation they did dozens of military operation and they were not successful. And finally they approached this Taliban commander and you see he is sitting with one of the Pakistan military officer. This picture was taken just a day or two days before the Shaqai agreement in April 2004. And then you see in the agreement one of the top Pakistani journal, Lieutenant General Sabdar Hussain who was the core commander that time at Peshawar. He went to Waziristan and he was actually the one who signed the peace deal from the government of Pakistan. And he landed the Naik Muhammad Wazir and his close and top militant commander there. And then Naik Muhammad Wazir said that he will not fight with the Pakistani forces there. After the peace deal, there was jubilation of the tribesmen who were fed up with the two years fighting in the area. They were dancing, traditional dancing was there. And however, soon the terms and conditions of that agreement was that Naik Muhammad Wazir and his fire top militant will denounce militancy. Pakistan style will not be used for any terrorist activity by anybody. Foreign militants have a right to live in an honorable manner which meant either they have to live or register their names with the government and respecting the law and traditions. These were some other terms and conditions of the Shaqai agreement that time. It felt just in few days. The main point of this deal which became the bone of contention was the presence of foreign militants in the area. Pakistani government from the government side, the main demand was that the Taliban militants, the local militants, they shouldn't give shelter and protect the foreign militants in the area. However, just a day or two later of the Shaqai agreement, Naik Muhammad Wazir, he was talking to the journalist in the area and he said that this is not part of the deal and he actually said that the foreign militants, they are their guests and whenever they come, the local tribesmen, they will give shelter to the foreign militants there. Then Naik Muhammad Wazir was killed in a missile strike which the Pakistani government took credit for that. However, a local reporter and journalist said actually it was done by the US forces in Afghanistan. Then another agreement which also became very famous that was the Sararoga agreement and it was done with Betullah Massoud. Both parties in the agreement, the government and the militant agreed on these points that army will evacuate tribal territories. The Taliban will not attack the army. If the foreign militants will not get protection, the army will not conduct operation against the Taliban if they agreed to completion of the development work in the area. This is Betullah Massoud who himself signed the peace deal at Sararoga. Sararoga is a town in south Waziristan and that's why it became Sararoga peace agreement. After the deal, there was a relative peace for a while. After the peace deal, local journalists in the Waziristan region reported that the Taliban established their offices and different parts of Waziristan started new recruitment drive, implemented a very strict version of Sharia in the region. In fact, they converted Waziristan like in a mini-Taliban state that time. Harsh steps were taken against criminals and other people. Again, both sides started in the Shia agreement when it was terminated so the government accused Taliban militants for violating the deal. And similarly, this time again, both sides started accusing each other of violation of the peace deal. In September 2006, another peace deal was struck by the Pakistani government with the Taliban militants and it was with the tribal elders. The chief architect of this deal was the then governor of Frontier Province Ali Jan Aurekzai. And he called it a historic moment when the deal was signed. When the Red Mask operation started in Pakistan in 2007, Taliban announced end of the agreement by circulating statement in Waziristan accusing government of establishing check post in the region. When the Red Mask operation started in Islamabad in the capital of Pakistan so Pakistan Army started a kind of movement in Waziristan and they established some of the check post where they had withdrawn some of their troops as part of the deal in 2006. The Taliban militants accused government saying it is violation of the deal and that's why they announced termination of the deal. This is now the Swat peace deal. Actually in Waziristan in those areas there were some 14-15 deals in different parts but the one which I just mentioned there are the main deals between the Taliban militants and the government. In Swat, it's like the similar story. The first deal was struck in May 2007 between the Six Parties Religious Alliance of Mutahiddah Majlis Amal and TNSM but it was in fact with Molana Fazlullah. And it happened because there were some concerns among the local people because of the FM broadcast by Molana Fazlullah and when these concerns reached to Islamabad and Peshawar so that time the religious alliance, the Six Parties Religious Alliance, it was in power in Peshawar and it started a kind of negotiation with Fazlullah and it said actually they are dealing with the TNSM which is a movement which Rodney mentioned for the implementation of Sharia in the Swat and Malacan region. It signed a deal there with the TNSM and basically with Molana Fazlullah. That time there was a commissioner who actually mediated the peace deal and that commissioner is nowadays he is under very close. I mean some people say he has already been arrested because he's missing and he is accused of having sympathies with the Taliban militants particularly with Fazlullah and his group. So this was and the main point in this deal was because like I mentioned it was because of the FM broadcast by the Taliban cleric Molana Fazlullah however as part of the deal he was led to go with his FM broadcast in the area and the MMA ministers in Peshawar they were telling to the media people that actually he will be broadcasting but he will not talk about jihad and inciting people which was not true actually there was no control of contents of the Fazlullah FM broadcast. During that Swat first deal Molana Fazlullah agreed to close down all training facilities for militants and to support the Polio vaccination. Actually he was opposing the Polio vaccination through his FM channels and he was telling to the people that it is a conspiracy by the West and particularly of the United States to infertile the male segment of the society. So he during this agreement he agreed that he will support the Polio vaccination drive. He also agreed to support the administration and the law and order situation and surprisingly like I mentioned the government agreed to let Fazlullahs continue his FM broadcast. In 2007 November Pakistan Army deployed troops the central government actually deployed troops in the Swat region and the provincial government of MMA called it the violation of peace deal between them and the TNSM Fazlullah. Military operation was launched against Fazlullah and the deal came to end that was the time when the then president Parvez Musharraf also imposed the state of emergency and he also cited Swat the insurgency the situation in Swat is one of the reasons for imposing emergency in his televised speech to the nation. Then in 2008 the new government came in the frontier province of the secular Awami National Party and it started new peace initiative in the region. They appointed the provincial president of the party Afrasiyab Khattak as a peace NY. It was a new position in the government machinery there and the first thing they did they released Sufi Muhammad the TNSM leader who took some close to 10,000 people to Afghanistan after the 9-11 and he led these people to fight along Taliban against the US led NATO forces there. When he was returning back he was arrested by the Pakistani authorities and he was put behind the bars. His views are very strict, very harsh and even he didn't try to approach the court because he believed the Pakistani courts and the judicial system it is not Islamic and that's why he thought it's futile to go and approach an un-Islamic court for his release. However the ANP government started this peace initiative and the first thing they did they released him and they signed a kind of agreement with the TNSM which Sufi Muhammad is its leader. And then that agreement was again terminated after some time and then we had this very much talk about agreement in February this year in which the government agreed to some of the demands of the militants in the area. Sufi Muhammad was the main broker of this deal in Sawat and he mediated the deal between the government and the Taliban militants which were led by his son-in-law Maulana Fazlullah in the area. Now the main point from the government side was how to disarm the Sawat militants and Maulana Sufi Muhammad took this responsibility. He said he's going to ask the Taliban militants to lay down their arms but even that time suspicion was raised that how Sufi Muhammad can do this job because many people thought like now he is more a symbolic leader. He doesn't have that much influence on the local people because the Sawat militants there were reports that there were many foreigners there were many criminals. They were just I mean it was a loose group. They were not like some local people where you can go and talk to them and can disarm them. So and this is what happened the whole because when they started the process even the ANP government which is so much secular in its ideology and outlook it went with this deal. I remember in the past few years whenever there was a deal with the militants in the FATA region ANP was the first to oppose such thing. However surprisingly when they came into power they were the first to start this process of negotiation with the militants in the region. They realized that it is a way to deal with the problem. When they started this negotiation process there was so much uproar and everywhere in Pakistan the human rights activists the civil society and particularly here in Washington DC I remember there was such a knee-jerk reaction and everybody and I mean we saw on the street of Sawat people were distributing sweets because for them the most important thing was peace. For them that was the thing and they wanted peace either to the peace deal or whatever. However when Taliban started demanding more and more and the controversy arose when they were appointing the judges the Qazis there so the government said okay these are the people who are going to be the judges there and Super Muhammad and the militant said no we have a certain criteria for the judges he should be having a certain length of beard and other things so anyhow that was the thing when the deal couldn't work and the Pakistan Army went there and now we see this military operation in Sawat it has rendered some 2.5 million refugees internal displaced people in their own country and still Pakistan Army is fighting there they have cleared some areas there and still they are there. This is how the story of the peace deal in Sawat and other areas is. Well lesson learned from the deal with Taliban. So they are being pursued as a I mean the Pakistani government during this time when they were signing this deal they thought like these are panacea for ending militancy on the one hand and on the other hand many people termed it like a sell out. These agreements have resulted in for the foreign militants and there was relative peace in some areas but none of them proved long lasting. Who is responsible for the breakdown of each successive agreement the government, local militia, foreign militants or some outside powers. Some men listen causes of the failure. I mean this is my own as a reporter when I was covering these deals and each time we were confused who is blaming who for these deals. So these were the men thing which I realized that firstly rarely tribal elders or tribes were involved as they were mostly directly with the Taliban militants in the region. Terms and conditions were never clearly specified in a simple language and that's why there was no clear definition of violation. There was no penalty on violation and all this was because there was no guarantor who could put pressure and levy financial penalty or other fines in case of violation. After seeing all these deals many times we were just discussing what the conclusion was for me who is deceiving who. That was the conclusion for me because we never know who is deceiving who. I mean the government said there are the violators the militants said there are the violators and the end is who is deceiving who.